During my research on HATS, I found these great resources:

List of available HATs for help authors who use MS Word at:
http://www.mshelpwiki.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=AvailableTools

List of reviews on many of these HATS:
http://www.mshelpwiki.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=SoftwareReviews

I’ve also gotten good insight by emailing authors of software reviews. Many have responded within days and have been helpful.

Mostly however, I’ve found that trying the application is the best way to determine if it’s right for my projects and purposes.

So far, there is no excellent comparison matrix that would help a beginning HAT user sort out which HAT is best for his needs and purposes.

Hat-matrix.com may be best suited to experienced tech writers who already possess a large internal glossary of HAT terms.

Feel free to email me or post here with your insights.

--Tim Mantyla